Mercy's Dr. Alain Tanbe Recently Utilized The FDA-Approved Lutonix 035 Drug Coated Balloon (DCB) Catheter 035 To Treat Arteriovenous (AV) Fistula

Alain Tanbe, M.D., a fellowship-trained vascular surgeon at The Vascular Center at Mercy Medical Center, recently utilized the FDA-approved LUTONIX® 035 Drug Coated Balloon (DCB) Catheter 035 to treat arteriovenous (AV) fistula, Paul R. Lucas, M.D., Director of Mercy’s Vascular Center, announced. Dr. Tanbe was the first vascular surgeon in the Maryland to use the DCB catheter for use in an End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) patient.

According to Dr. Lucas, arteriovenous (AV) fistulas are abnormal connections between an artery and a vein as may occur due to injury, congenital and genetic conditions, and surgery—the latter most often for use in dialysis in people with severe kidney disease.

“Patients with late stage kidney failure may undergo surgery to create an arteriovenous or AV fistula—the connection of an artery to a vein--to make it easier to perform dialysis. If a dialysis needle is placed into a vein too often, scarring may occur, causing blockages and narrowing of the blood vessel, thus leading to additional venous reinterventions--these are time-consuming and difficult for the patient. The use of the new drug-coated balloon catheter gives physicians another option,” Dr. Lucas said.

With the LUTONIX® drug-coated balloon catheter, ESRD patients undergo fewer interruptions of their treatment, spend less time undergoing access maintenance, leading to improved patient satisfaction and a better quality of life.

The use of angioplasty (using a balloon for unblocking of a blood vessel) balloon catheters to deliver drugs to treat damaged portions of an artery “have been explored for more than 20 years. Drug delivery sleeves fit over catheters, porous balloons that would allow the drug to weep into the vessel wall after inflation. The challenge has been finding a way to achieve delivery of a sufficiently therapeutic dose. The new DCB does just that, coated with the drug, Paclitaxel,” Dr. Lucas said.

“It’s the first and only drug coated balloon that is FDA approved as safe and effective in end stage renal disease patients with stenotic lesions in dialysis arteriovenous (AV) fistulae,” Dr. Tanbe noted.

“More than 2 million patients worldwide undergo dialysis treatments, with sessions lasting about four hours and required three times a week. The LUTONIX® DCB catheter offers vascular surgeons a great tool to address arterial stenosis (narrowing of the artery) and blockages. Recent research has shown that the number of reinterventions are significantly reduced, thanks to the DCB, and that means a lot less stress, less time spent in dialysis, and less discomfort for the patient,” Dr. Tanbe said.

The Vascular Center at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore, Maryland, is led by Dr. Paul Lucas, Director of the Vascular Center and Chief of Vascular Surgery at Mercy. He is joined by vascular surgeons Dr. Kurtis Kim and Dr. Alain Tanbe, as well as a team of experienced technologists. Mercy’s Vascular Center offers comprehensive diagnosis and treatment of circulatory system disorders including stroke and mini stroke, leg pain and swelling, blood clots in veins, aneurysms, varicose veins and circulatory disease.